Melted throttle linkage

Okay, who to yell at first.

1. Yanmar for not putting a sufficient size heat exchanger on their diesel?
2. Hunter Marine for running the throttle linkage right over diesel?
3. All of the above.

Okay, Yanmar,  yes, we did let our strainer get clogged, but that doesn't let you off the hook.  When you be motoring through the balmy waters of the Florida Keys in May, the only option for water cooling is running about 85 degrees.  Nice to swim in, not so nice to cool the engine.

Hunter.  Really?  Engines get ... hot. So why don't we run the linkage cable right there within two inches.  That sounds like a great idea!

Melted Linkage cable.  The wires are actually supposed to slide
through the casing.  Not so much.

So, before we can leave, we need to get this situation of forward/reverse/neutral worked out.  So, Tim proceeds to perform surgery on the linkage cable.  I had the stressful and taxing job of sitting in the cockpit, drinking wine and listening for: "Now try moving it in neutral/reverse/forward"

Because of the engine overheating, our back berth, usually where we sleep is roughly 10,000 degrees.  I get all the fans I can blowing on Tim before escaping back up to the cool breezes outside.

We finally got it to working. Thankfully.  It was going to be fun trying to dock at Marina del Mar in Key Largo otherwise.

I wound up sleeping in the cockpit that night, we built up the bed in the salon for Tim.  

With very little to no ambient light, the night sky was absolutely fantastic.